Jusuf Nurkic was thrust into the starting center role for the Nuggets last season when they traded Timofey Mozgov to the Cavaliers — and he showed a lot of promise.

He’s a rookie, he was raw, and his per-game numbers were as well, but his per-minute numbers showed real promise — 15.3 points, 13.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per-36 minutes. He showed some real defensive aptitude — the Nuggets were 10.6 points per 100 possessions better when he was on the floor. This is a guy who could develop into a quality NBA center.

One Nuggets player missing out on (EuroBasket) is center Jusuf Nurkic. The big man was set to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but knee surgery in late spring put an end to that. Nurkic has been rehabbing the knee in Denver with hopes of being ready when the season starts or soon thereafter.

Nurkic has work to do this coming season. He needs to reduce his foul rate, he seemed to struggle with the speed of the game at times. He needs to become more efficient when he does shoot, because beyond three feet he doesn’t hit 40 percent of his shots.

But there is promise, which is why if he’s not 100 percent they need to be patient. It’s about the long term, not winning games in November.

Pincus appears to be rounding Smith’s 2016-17 salary. If Smith has a base salary of exactly $5 million this season, the most Smith could make next season, which follows a player option, is $5,375,000. That would mean precisely 40% of Smith’s salary is guaranteed each season – which is important.

The percentage of a player’s base salary that is guaranteed in an option year must match the preceding season. It seems not fully guaranteeing Smith’s salary this season was just a workaround so the Cavaliers could guarantee less next season.

It’s nearly a formality Smith will get his entire $5 million this season. He just has to make it to Monday without Cleveland preferring paying him $4.15 million to go away rather than keeping him. That’d be a stunning reversal days after he signs.

Though he will make less than the $6,399,750 he could have gotten by opting in next season, it appeared Smith might have saved face by getting more money overall with his 2016-17 player option. It probably wasn’t a better deal than opting in, but it was was arguably a better deal than opting in. That’s something.

But it’s getting harder and harder for Smith to justify his decision given the results.

While all $6,399,750 of his player-option season would have been guaranteed, just $4.1 million of his new deal – counting both years – will be.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN:

JR Smith's deal with Cavs is 2 years/10.3M total. But first year just 2M guaranteed, 2nd year player option is 2.1M guaranteed sources said.

The big issue is how difficult the incentives are to reach. With easy benchmarks, this deal might be practically fully guaranteed.

It’s also worth noting the $2.1 million “guaranteed” to Smith for his second season might not actually be guaranteed.

Contracts with a player option dictate what happens to protected compensation – commonly called guaranteed money – for the season following the option if the player is waived before the option is exercised. Smith’s contract could say he doesn’t get any of that money if Cleveland waives him before he opts in. Given the other details we know, I suspect the contract does say that.

If it contains that clause, Smith can’t opt in until after the 2016 NBA Finals. Otherwise, if things start to go south, he could rush to opt in before the Cavaliers waive him. (Though if they make the Finals and want to waive Smith before the 2016-17 season, that could create an interesting race for filing paperwork. Could there be a scenario where they waive Smith during the Finals to ensure he can’t opt in before they waive him?)

Another thing we can deduce: Smith’s salary increases from this season to the following one. The percentage of base salary that is protected in an option year must match the season prior. Because we know Smith’s guaranteed money increases, his salary must also.

all I know is Rich Paul is asking for five years and $94MM and the Cavaliers are $14MM short of that figure. That’s Randy Moss-type separation. There’s limited to zero communication because of that tremendous gap.

Thompson might accept less than the max, or the Cavaliers might increase their offer. But what’s the incentive for either side to budge now?

The deadline for Thompson to accept his qualifying offer his Oct. 1. Communication should heat up closer to then.

I think Thompson is worth less than $80 million to most teams, even with the salary cap skyrocketing. But he has leverage on Cleveland.

Even if the Cavaliers believe LeBron James, who shares an agent with Thompson, won’t leave over this, they project to be over the cap for the foreseeable future whether or not they keep Thompson. They won’t get a similarly valuable player with the mid-level exception. So, the biggest drawback to keeping Thompson would be the real-dollar cost to Dan Gilbert. From a team-building standpoint, they’re better off maxing him out than watching him take the qualifying offer – a real possibility, according to Paul.

On the other hand, an $80 million offer already strikes me as one reliant on that leverage. Thompson could have brought back an offer sheet for Cleveland to match, but he hasn’t.

There are good reasons for both the Cavs to increase their offer and Thompson to settle for what’s currently on the table. That’ll lead to interesting negotiations – eventually.